


The Vantas Gene

by perceptivefics



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Implied on again/off again Crokri, M/M, Obvious Davekat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 13:38:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10810107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perceptivefics/pseuds/perceptivefics
Summary: Karkat doesn't know what his brother's problem is with Dave, and Kankri can't understand why Karkat likes him so much.





	The Vantas Gene

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChasetheSun2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChasetheSun2/gifts).



> This was a request on Tumblr by ChaseTheSun2! The prompt was "Break Me" so I cracked open my cold shriveled heart and wrote him some A N G S T. M-rated for lots of F bombs jic.
> 
> But next time maybe someone talk me out of copy-pasting via mobile. @@;;

“What was that look?”

 

“What look?”

 

Karkat narrowed his eyes at Kankri, a scowl pressed into his chubby features moreso than usual. He _was_ smiling, but that was before Dave left the room and after he noticed his brother casting a familiar judging glance when his date wasn’t looking. Karkat was convinced by this point that Kankri could turn leaving the room for five minutes to take a quick piss into a crime worthy of capital punishment with just the right stank thrown in with his stare.

 

“The look like you expect Dave to walk back in here wearing a ski mask and saying _this is a stick-up_ ,” Karkat clarified. “That look.”

 

The elegant, sloping bridge of Kankri’s nose crinkled up in displeasure. It was a feature they both shared, but Karkat’s had somehow found its way to a state of permanent scrunch. The fact that Dave was the only person to ever make that  _stop_ for even a fraction of a second was just one of the many reasons why he would not abide his brother being _this much_ of an asshole.

 

“Karkat, don’t be dramatic.” Kankri sighed, “Obviously I know Dave isn’t going to rob us at gun point.”

 

“Don’t dismiss me, you know what I mean.”

 

The thinner of the two rolled his eyes. Karkat’s blood had never reached boiling so quickly. “Must we start this before your date?”

 

“I think so!” Karkat replied. “Because if you’re going to be a judgmental dick about my boyfriend, I have a right to know, so I can do my utmost to keep from exposing him to your stupid over-protective crap!”

 

Kankri snorted into his tea and drank a long, deep sip, and Karkat didn’t miss the sneer that crossed his features. There were many times in his life where he had debated reaching across the dinner table and choking his older brother with his own turtleneck sweaters when he got too haughty for his own good, but only now did Karkat understand what it felt like to consider what would happen should he actually follow through on that action. He gnashed his teeth behind thinned lips and let out a frustrated huff.

 

“ _Now_ what?” He demanded, even though he already knew the answer.

 

“Nothing.” Kankri replied (as predicted, eyebrows raised as he set his tea down), “I just think you’re being ridiculous, and I am not going to engage this conversation.”

 

Karkat _flailed,_ throwing his arms up at his sides. “Ohhh, _I’m_ sorry! See, because I thought what was happening here was _you_ were making a snap judgment about my date, and then trying to turn the fucking tables on _my_ supposedly ignorant ass when I called you out on it!”

 

“ _Karkat._ ” Kankri hissed, eyes flicking meaningfully in the direction Dave had gone. “Keep your voice -”

 

“Don’t tell me to keep my voice down!” Karkat growled. Technically, he hadn’t reached his loudest shouting level yet. But he might, if Kankri kept this up. “What, are you scared he’s gonna hear what a pretentious asshole you are?”

 

“Don’t you start this.” Kankri snipped, “You’ve got maybe three minutes before you two leave for your movie. You don’t want to go into your date looking like a fool, do you?”

 

Karkat ignored the question and forced the subject. His brother was avoiding something, and he was going to get to the bottom of it even if it killed him. “Why were you giving Dave the stink-eye when he left the room.”

 

“I did not give him a _stink-eye_!” Kankri sputtered in offense.

 

“You _did!_ You made that stupid judgey little eyebrow raise when I introduced you to him, too! He said maybe _four_ words to you, then he excused himself to go pee, and you looked at him like he was responsible for the fucking meltdown at Chernobyl!”

 

“Karkat, _really._ ” Kankri groaned, pressing his face into one hand, exasperated. Sometimes he wished they hadn’t both inherited their father’s sense of doggedness. It was a good trait for encouraging loyalty, but it made for some very ugly fights every now and again. Kind of like right now.

 

“Just tell me why you were making that look at him!” Karkat demanded.

 

“ _No_ , because I did not make any such look!”

 

“You stupid, stubborn son of a bitch, I am going to drag it out of you even if I have to stretch out your favorite sweater to fucking make it happen.”

 

Kankri clutched the sides of his tea mug and pursed his lips, shooting Karkat a dark glare and saying nothing. Karkat would normally pat himself on the back for pushing his brother into a corner like this in an argument (usually Kankri was the one pulling that off), but right now he had a more pressing goal ahead of him.

 

“What is it about him that pisses you off so much?” Karkat demanded.

 

Kankri _sighed._  “He doesn’t _piss me off._ He just bothers me.”

 

“Bothers you.”

 

“Yes, he bothers me!” Kankri flicked his hands out sarcastically. “I do not have a favorable opinion of your date, and yet I do nothing to stop you from seeing him! How the world has ended!”

 

For someone accusing him of being dramatic, Kankri sure was making a fuss, but Karkat decided not to point that out for now. “Why in the hell does he bother you?”

 

“He just does! What does it matter? I’m not the one dating him!”

 

“It matters because I’d like to dispel any future issues you’re going to have with him, so we can all get along amicably and not have any weird family dinners when he’s around!”

 

“Well, it sounds like you will be doing your damndest to keep him out of the house anyway, so I don’t see why my opinion holds the kind of weight you’re describing,” Kankri snapped.

 

Karkat’s turn to roll his eyes. “Will you stop acting like I’m snubbing you just because you don’t like the conversation and pony the fuck up about what’s going on? Doesn’t your fucking therapist tell you to talk about your feelings more? What’s with the cagey bullshit?”

 

Kankri shot him a _look._ Different from the look he cast at Dave, but still just as cold. “Because before you started on your little tirade, believe it or not, I was processing my reaction to your boyfriend.”

 

Karkat stammered. “ _Processing?_ Processing  _what?!_ ”

 

“That first impressions are not everything about a person and that I should possibly give him more time before I reach my conclusions.”

 

Bewildered, Karkat cried, “What the fuck are you talking about?! What first fucking impression would possibly make you -”

 

And then it clicked, and Kankri’s heart lodged itself in his throat.

 

“It’s the cool kid act, isn’t it.”

 

Kankri didn’t say anything, but he did look down.

 

Karkat’s head was halfway to spinning right off his shoulders. “Are you kidding me right now?”

 

Cool as a cucumber, his brother replied: “Like I said, I was processing my reaction.”

 

Karkat’s eyebrows shot up on his forehead. “Oh, you mean you _knew_ you were acting like a prick and you just didn’t want me to talk about it? Not so high and mighty when someone’s nailed you for your shit, huh?”

 

Kankri smacked his tea mug down and glared. “I admitted that I should give him the opportunity to be himself. What more do you want?”

 

“How about admitting you were a huge jackass just now? You know, an apology? You know what those are, right?”

 

“Fine.” Kankri huffed, “I apologize. I was wrong to behave the way that I did.”

 

“You could say it without acting like I just shot the family dog.”

 

Kankri threw his hands up, and Karkat continued - possibly against his better judgment - to needle him. Because he was feeling _just that_ vindictive after the crap his brother just pulled. “You know, if you gave him maybe ten minutes to talk to you instead of putting him in a box and making him all nervous, you would see right through his stupid stone-faced memetic nonsense. It’s not _real._ And I bet you would even _like him_ if you let him have that chance. But instead you’re choosing to project all your drama onto him, which -”

 

“I am not _projecting!_ ” Kankri interrupted, to which Karkat only snorted in disbelief, because that was the biggest lie he’d heard all day.

 

“Kankri, there’s no fucking Vantas Gene or whatever that makes us partial to assholes! Just because _you_ fell for some greasy fuck’s same bullshit _twice_ doesn’t mean I’m gonna pick a  _similar_ greasy fuck off the streets! Believe it or not, I actually care about what my partner brings to a relationship beyond how well they can fuck me in bed!”

 

Karkat barely had time to process the dead-eyed, hollow look of utter _heartbreak_ that crossed Kankri’s delicate features. In part because it happened in the space of a blink, and in part because Dave decided to magically appear from the bathroom at that point. Karkat honestly didn’t remember hearing the toilet flush. The two of them had been too busy fighting.

 

“Hey. Uhhh.” Dave - sweet, stupid, caring Dave - stood awkwardly in the frame of the hallway, a perfect, practiced expressionless mask painted onto his face. Karkat could tell he was probably just praying that the family argument wouldn’t follow them out of the house. “Should we maybe get going?”

 

In the span of Karkat diverting his attention to Dave, then looking back to his brother, his temper had cooled as if by sorcery. Which left him just level-headed enough to absorb the full damage of what he’d just done. Kankri sat quietly at the kitchen island, ankles crossed, heels resting on the connecting bars of the stool. He never looked up as he picked up his mug, staring down into his tea. He inhaled, then he drank. His breath faltered and he held the handle so hard his dark knuckles blanched from the pressure. Then, as smoothly as his brother set the tea mug down, Kankri looked up and the sadness was gone. And if Karkat thought he looked bitter _before,_ well, he was unprepared for just how harsh Kankri could turn inside the space of a few seconds. The look on his face could break hearts and crush mountains.

 

Fuck. He fucked up.

 

“Sorry.” Karkat said to Dave, “I just need a minute -”

 

“No, no, it’s fine.” Kankri smiled, slow and soft, all the while hiding the way his throat clenched and his chest tightened. Dave would never know, he was so fucking good at hiding what was really going on in his own head. But Karkat could tell. It was in the lack of gleam in his eyes, and the quick flicker of a hand gesture dismissing them from the kitchen. Too polite to really be kind, but too ambiguous to be anything else. “You two go have fun. I really shouldn’t keep you.”

 

Oh God, he _really_ fucked up. Frozen dinners and icy shoulders were in Karkat’s future. “Kankri -”

 

His smile widened, thinned, stayed amicable with just the barest hint of rage broiling under the surface as he looked at Karkat. “You’re going to miss the previews if you don’t get going.”

 

Karkat stopped. Swallowed. Tried to ignore the guilt coiling up in his chest, on top of rationalizing that it was _Kankri’s_ fault, he really shouldn’t have been such a jackass about this, but - God. The way he looked like he was going to cry when they left…

 

“I mean,” Dave put up his hands, speaking up as the silence dragged on. “I don’t really give a fuck about previews ‘cause it’s always about some TV show I’ll never watch, so if you guys need a minute -”

 

Karkat turned on his heel and grabbed one of Dave’s hands. “No, we’re good,” he said. He spoke in clipped, short sentences, and hustled to the door. “It’s fine. Let’s just go. Sorry.”

 

Kankri didn’t even bid them goodbye as they left. Karkat thought about telling him what time they would be home, but on second thought, maybe that wasn’t so important anymore. Who fucking cared anyway, right? The front door opened, Karkat and Dave stepped through, the front door closed. Kankri sat at the kitchen island alone in silence so heavy it was like sitting inside a pressure chamber.

 

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there staring into his tea instead of drinking it, but when he went to take another sip, he sniffed at the wrong moment and choked, like a fucking _idiot._ Kankri swallowed what he could, then coughed the rest into his sweater sleeve and put his head down as his chest weighed him down. There was an anvil in his rib cage that he really wished he didn’t have right now. But that was all his fault, he supposed. He was the stupid gullible brat who fell for _the greasy fuck_ in the first place.

 

It would be easier for him to heal if his first reaction wasn’t to pick up his cell phone and give Cronus a call.


End file.
